CCPR/C/119/D/2259/2013 provisions of Ordinance 06-01 of 27 February 2006 and subsequent texts related to the issue of disappeared persons in the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation confirms the support of over 85 per cent of relatives of victims or their beneficiaries. 4.5 The State party then emphasizes the nature, principles and content of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation and its implementing texts. Far from the stereotypes and harsh judgments that depict the Charter as an impediment to the procedure for establishing truth and administering justice, it is, rather, an internal national mechanism for dealing with and ending the crisis that has been submitted for public approval and adopted by referendum. The State party first describes the origins and main characteristics of the Algerian crisis in order to assess the impact of implementation of the Charter. The Charter has been introduced against the background of a political and security crisis that has shaken the country, described as the “Great Fitna”, with reference to the historical and religious concept of the deep discord that existed within the community of Islam after the death of the Prophet. The preamble of the Charter suggests that the “Great Fitna”, which attempted to “divert Algeria’s development from its natural course”, constituted a “criminal aggression aimed at calling into question the very existence of the national State”, resulting in a “national tragedy” that took “a terrible bloody toll” of the people by means of “barbaric terrorism” acting “in contradiction with the true values of Islam and the Muslim traditions of peace, tolerance and solidarity”. The Ordinance and the four implementing decrees are intended to respond to the “Great Fitna” and prevent any repetition of it through the adoption of political, legal and socioeconomic measures. The implementing Ordinance prescribes legal measures involving the discontinuance of criminal proceedings and the commutation or remission of sentences for any person who has been found guilty of acts of terrorism or who is benefiting from the provisions of the legislation on civil dissent, except for persons who have committed or been accomplices in mass killings, rapes or bombings in public places. The Ordinance also introduces a procedure for filing a judicial declaration of death, which entitles beneficiaries to receive compensation as victims of the “national tragedy”. Social and economic measures have also been put in place, including the provision of employment placement assistance and compensation for all persons considered to be victims of the “national tragedy”. Finally, the Ordinance prescribes political measures, such as a ban on political activity for any person who exploited religion in the past in a way that contributed to the “national tragedy”, and establishes the inadmissibility of individual or collective proceedings brought against members of any branch of the defence and security forces of Algeria for actions undertaken to protect persons and property, safeguard the nation and preserve its institutions. 4.6 In addition to the establishment of a fund to compensate all victims of the “national tragedy”, the sovereign people of Algeria have, according to the State party, agreed to begin a process of national reconciliation as the only way to heal the wounds inflicted. The State party insists that the proclamation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation reflects a desire to avoid confrontation in the courts, media outpourings and political scoresettling. The State party is therefore of the view that the authors’ allegations concerning the period of the national tragedy are covered by the comprehensive domestic settlement mechanism provided for in the Charter. Author’s comments on the State party’s observations 5.1 On 16 July 2015, the author submitted her comments on the State party’s observations. 5.2 The author emphasizes that the State party’s observations are inappropriate and obsolete, given that they are addressed to another body concerned with the promotion and protection of human rights (the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances) and are dated July 2009. The author further emphasizes that the State party’s observations do not deal at all with the admissibility of the communication, the particulars of the case or the remedies sought by the victim’s family and therefore demonstrate the Algerian authorities’ disregard and disdain for this procedure. 5.3 Recalling that none of the remedies sought have led to a thorough investigation or criminal proceedings and that the Algerian authorities have failed to provide tangible evidence of any real efforts to locate Brahim El Boathi and identify those responsible for 6 GE.17-07865